Jun 2005 Journal

Central Office for Holocaust Claims

Slave labour heir payments

The first tranche of compensation payments to heirs of former slave and forced labourers were made at the end of May by the Claims Conference on behalf of the German Foundation: Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.

Whereas each living former labourer received €7,500, eligible heirs will be entitled to around €6,500 (approximately £4,000).

Please note that it is no longer possible to apply to the German Foundation for slave or forced labour compensation and eligible heirs had to have registered their claims by the end of last year. A second and larger tranche of payments will be made later this month.

Shoah damage valued

In an unprecedented report published earlier this year, the Israeli government estimates the material damage caused to the Jewish people during the Holocaust at between $230 and $320 billion (approximately £170 billion).

The report estimates the value of plundered Jewish property at $125 billion (in today's money) and calculates the loss of income at between $104 and $155 billion. The unpaid wages of forced labourers are reckoned to be between $11 and $52 billion.

Although the report does not include reparations for the suffering of survivors, or for the murder of 6 million Jews, it is argued that no more than 20 per cent of the looted Jewish assets - both private and communal - were restored to their owners after the Holocaust.

Further help

Written enquiries should be sent to Central Office for Holocaust Claims (UK), Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL, by fax to 020 8385 3075, or by email to michael@ajr.org.uk. Assistance can be provided strictly by appointment at the Holocaust Survivors Centre in Hendon, north London. For an appointment, please ring 020 8385 3074.